nicke

Here's what the LNG industry's new export proposal basically amounts to: all the same environmental and land-rights impacts associated with importing LNG, without even the pretense of delivering a benefit in the form of energy we could use in Oregon. In fact, exporting LNG will increase natural gas prices in Oregon and throughout the US, while destroying salmon habitat and farmland here in our state. Sounds like a great deal for Oregon, doesn't it....

This is a great example of young people taking the future of their world into their own hands and doing something to make it better. Obviously they will be laughed at by some people: after all, every group of idealists who has ever ended up changing the world was ridiculed at some point along the way. I know that won't stop this group from forging ahead. Here's to a more just and sustainable future!

Do we really want to make Oregon into a resource colony for China, exporting fuel overseas so China can use it to make high-end products that it sells back to the US at a higher price? That doesn't sound like a good equation for Oregon or the US. Maintaining our place in the global economy while repairing the environment means investing in clean energy technologies here at home, not exporting dirty technologies abroad. Governor Kitzhaber and other Oregon leaders should firmly oppose this coal export idea.

nutmeg31, you've got your facts mixed up. The Boardman Plant does not supply 40% of PGE's electricity, or anything close to it. You're thinking of the percentage of Oregon's total electricity grid that's supplied by burning coal (including coal from out-of-state coal plants). Also, it's "PGE" not "PG&E." Maybe you should leave this debate to folks who know facts at hand, and understand which utility it is we're talking about.

PGE has received a free pass to pollute for far too long, and it's great that federal regulators are finally cracking down on the Boardman Coal Plant. This should send a clear signal to state agencies that they need to hold the Boardman Plant accountable to the Clean Air Act at last. In so doing, the State of Oregon can push PGE to close down its coal plant quickly, and create hundreds of clean energy jobs in Oregon.

The fact that Dudley has only agreed to engage in one debate should raise warning flags for all voters: why, in a time of such economic uncertainty, would a person running for office not want to take every opportunity to engage with voters and with other candidates. Dudley hopes buying out high-profile TV slots where he gets to offer vague platitudes without being questioned will win voters over. Meanwhile Kitzhaber has specific ideas that he's willing to share with voters and discuss openly with other candidates - not to mention political experience, which Dudley utterly lacks. Who would you rather see running the state?

This tragic accident in California should be a reminder that natural gas pipelines present very real dangers - and it comes at a time when major energy companies are attempting to build multiple new liquefied natural gas pipelines in Oregon. Just because Oregon hasn't experienced a natural gas disaster on the scale of the San Bruno tragedy in recent years doesn't mean there isn't a threat. Before the San Bruno explosion, no one in that community would have predicted such a catastrophic event caused by dependence on unsafe natural gas pipelines.

By stopping coal exports from the Powder River Basin to China, Oregon can play a critical part in limiting worldwide coal consumption and reducing global warming. Every time an article appears on this site about Oregon's own efforts to reduce global warming pollution, some great thinker off the internet decides it's pointless for us to do anything here because China is building more coal plants all the time anyway. Well if you care so much about coal in China, I say here's your big chance to do something.

Let's send a message to China and other markets on the other side of the Pacific that they need to invest in renewable energy because they're not going to get our coal. Don't say that China will simply buy coal elsewhere; while there's some truth to that, the US has the world's largest coal reserves, and we can significantly limit the amount of coal burned worldwide by keeping what we have in the ground. It's time to phase out the Northwest's own coal plants, like the PGE-owned Boardman Plant, and simultaneously prevent our coal from being exported abroad. Let's not make the Columbia an export zone for Peabody Coal.

It's ridiculous for PGE to think it can run the Boardman Coal Plant until 2040. Does the company seriously believe Oregonians will put up with that? Does it really think that at no point in the next 30 years will federal carbon regulation make operating a coal plant for that long un-economical? Does PGE think there won't be a state law or ballot initiative sometime in the next three decades that mandates they close the Boardman Plant? Switching back to the 2040 plan will be a hard move for PGE to defend, and will seriously hurt the company's image. It's time to get real, PGE: shut this coal plant down by 2015.

I'm glad to see the EQC taking the step of denying PGE's petition to continue polluting illegally for another decade. There's a simple solution to the Boardman pollution problem: replace the coal plant with cleaner fuels by 2014, eliminating the need for expensive pollution upgrades. We have an abundance of renewable energy resources in the Northwest, including wind, solar, and geothermal power. Even better, buildings and other infrastructure should be upgraded to be much more energy efficient, reducing the need for so much power in the first place. These are the options PGE should be investing in: not efforts to prolong the life of a dirty coal plant. Make the transition away from Boardman Coal by 2014 or sooner.

Oregon is fast becoming a leader in clean energy development and green tech, but importing LNG could displace renewable energy projects and cost thousands of potential jobs. By backing the Palomar Pipeline, NW Natural is siding with some of the worst oil and gas giants that do business in this country, while hurting Oregon's environment and economy. It's time for NW Natural to pull out of Palomar once and for all.

It's great the PGE is looking at moving up the date for closing the Boardman Plant. However 2020 is still ten years away, and we can't afford to keep burning coal in Oregon for that long. A 2020 close-down date still means another decade of climate-altering pollution which threatens Oregon's environment and economy. Of course, it's not practical to shut the plant down overnight, but transitioning Boardman away from coal by 2014 would be feasible. PGE needs to move up the closing date by just six more years. Then we'll be looking at a deal which could work out for environmentalists, ratepayers, and all who depend on a healthy Oregon environment.

This is an excellent example of the degree to which youth across the nation have become engaged in the struggle for a sustainable future. The young people of today will have to deal with the consequences of global warming for the rest of our lifetimes - and fortunately we're more in tune with the science (and less brainwashed by Fox News) than many older folks seemed to be. I see we have here the usual inane blabbering of a few global warming deniers who appear barely able to write a comprehendable sentence, and this case don't actually seem to be talking much about global warming at all. This is no surprise - we youth activists are used to it. You deniers will have to get a little bit more convincing if you want to do anyone besides the Fox addicts to listen to you.